For various reasons, my better half has a load of (tiddly) pension schemes. Each one sends out an annual statement. Almost without exception they are laid out thoughtlessly.
Take this one from L&G. Of the 9 pages, 3 are almost entirely blank. That wastes paper & energy. And is also a pain in the arse when I come to scan the document - a near-empty page is as much effort as a full one.
And all this for a pension that will pay about £30 per annum.
In the name of heaven, why?!
Of course the bigger question is why this stuff comes round on paper at all.
I’d email them and ask, only there’s no email address on the statement. Perhaps if you have a pension they think you must be stuck in the past…
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There was a young man of Corfu
Who desperately needed a poo
He forgot all the rules
About paper and stools
And ended up blocking the loo
Mark Iliff - May 2012
I was on one of those beaches with a dress code the other day. It was very unsettling.
On the kind of beach I prefer, clothing is there to do a job: dark lenses, thick soles, wide brims. On the other kind, people highlight and emphasise their erogenous zones using flimsy bright fabrics. And they make their kids do the same, which is particularly unsettling.
The awful thing is that this sexualisation of swimming and sunbathing is considered the norm, while those who dissent are considered weird (at best).
We are a very peculiar species.
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“She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the hips that season.” — PG Wodehouse - Jeeves and the unbidden guest
To the politicians who witter on - ahead of Thursday’s local elections - about localism and giving power back to communities I have two words: postcode lottery.
As long as people consider it unacceptable for healthcare or education standards or the postal service or rail fares or anything else to vary across the country, central government will take an interest. Will have to to remain in power.
The people who look back fondly on the days when a city, town or region could attract enterprise and vigour by doing things better are the same folk who made it stop: us.
Postcode lottery - the two words that allow newspapers, central government and TV pundits to amass power to the centre. Postcode lottery - the two words that sap local government of power to innovate and that promote conformity over excellence.
Here endeth the lesson. Happy voting,
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“And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions.” — Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
Tweeted by Will Smith (@Will_Smith) on 19 Mar 2012:
Think of a number. Double it. Add six. Half it. Take away the number you started with. Your answer is three. Mind=Blown
Unless he’s being ironic - and there are no indications of that - he is amazed that
(2x + 6) ÷ 2 = x + 3
He’s parading (or feigning) innumeracy like a badge. He’s role-modelling innumeracy.
Why?
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I hate it when somebody tweets a link to a TED video. Because if I like them ~ and why would I follow them if I didn’t? ~ then I’ll probably like it. And probably spend time I haven’t got watching the vid.
That happened today with Andrew Stanton’s TED talk on storytelling (NSFW).
Were the 20 minutes well spent? Well at least 14 were. Including this great line: “Storytelling is a well organised absence of information”.
But his Scots accent is terrible…
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1 I was reading The Merchant of Venice.
2 I was reading ‘The Merchant of Venice’.
3 I was reading The Merchant of Venice.
The man who cannot see that No 1 is the best-looking, as well as the sufficient and sensible form, should print or write nothing but advertisements for lost dogs or ironmongers’ catalogues: literature is not for him to meddle with.
— George Bernard Shaw
via Guardian style guide
…is so much nicer a euphemism than vertically challenged, don’t you think?
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